Travel Technology - Sony getting serious about DAP's? Watch out Ipod!

Watch out Apple! Looks like Sony is going to seriously go after the Ishuffle. The new flash players are feature rich and look awesome with the display embedded in the casing. You gotta love 50hr battery life if your a FFlyer! I love the native MP3 and support for WMA.

Maybe Sony is learning some lessons after the horrid launch of their NW-HD1 and HD3;superior hardware to Ipod but failed in the software, online music store, ease of use and advertising categories. They have a bit of catch up to do.

Now if Sony can offer a serious competitive price point(the premiums they ask for are a major deterrent for many people) as well as more user friendly software(itunes is great, intuitive software) then they can give Apple a serious race.

The result will be a boon for the consumer in the DAP market, forcing competitors to offer better products and decent prices.

http://www.themacday.com/home/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=619

http://dapreview.net/comment.php?comment.news.1093

http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/portable_av/0,39033456,39086627p,00.htm

CRAP!! :confused:

Can a mod please move this to the tech forum!?!
:D

I dunno. I just bought a 40 GB iPod Photo for $350. Sony wants that much for a 20 GB device.

I dunno. I just bought a 40 GB iPod Photo for $350. Sony wants that much for a 20 GB device.

Slightly OT, but from another thread someone mentioned that Costco has the 40gb for $299 and the 60gig for $399. Maybe you can get a pricematch.

Watch out Apple! Looks like Sony is going to seriously go after the Ishuffle. The new flash players are feature rich and look awesome with the display embedded in the casing. You gotta love 50hr battery life if your a FFlyer! I love the native MP3 and support for WMA.

Maybe Sony is learning some lessons after the horrid launch of their NW-HD1 and HD3;superior hardware to Ipod but failed in the software, online music store, ease of use and advertising categories. They have a bit of catch up to do.

Now if Sony can offer a serious competitive price point(the premiums they ask for are a major deterrent for many people) as well as more user friendly software(itunes is great, intuitive software) then they can give Apple a serious race.

The result will be a boon for the consumer in the DAP market, forcing competitors to offer better products and decent prices.

http://www.themacday.com/home/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=619

http://dapreview.net/comment.php?comment.news.1093

http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/portable_av/0,39033456,39086627p,00.htm

Looking at the photos, the text on the display appears that it will be very tiny. I think normal people won't be able to read it easily. The display is also hidden behind a shiny translucent cover, which will probably cause lots of glare. You can even see the photographer's camera in the article photos.

The two buttons for Search / Menu and Disp / FM appear to be too close together. Also, dual function buttons, which depend upon the lenght of time the button is held down, is not very easy to use.

At 37g, it weighs 68% more than the iPod shuffle.

While it appears to be more flashy, it is already apparent that usability took a back seat, as usual.

They have not figured it out: "WMA and WAV "compatability" is through transcoding with SonicStage only.". Transcoding to ATRAC is not the answer. :td:

If they want to be taken seriously, native WMA support is a requirement.

They have not figured it out: "WMA and WAV "compatability" is through transcoding with SonicStage only.". Transcoding to ATRAC is not the answer. :td:

If they want to be taken seriously, native WMA support is a requirement.

Exactly, this type of thing is a huge problem with Sony. Whether it is media (memory sticks) or formats they always try to force their method on the world. I have stopped short of buying several, hell, many, of their products when I checked and noticed some format or compatibility issue. It has kept me away from their cameras and their audio players on more than one occassion. Someone should send them Betamax video recorders every Christmas until they get a clue.

I don't think the ATRAC format is that big of issue as it is no different than itunes having the AAC format. What I think a major deterrrent for Sony is the non-intuitive and non user friendly Sonic stage software. Compare that to the itunes software and it is like night and day. Itunes software is extremely simple to use even though you have to convert non-AAC and MP3 formats to utilize it.

Sony has made strides in changing from an all ATRAC format for their players to adding native MP3 and WMA compatibility. They are learning,albeit slowly.

I think t would be best for them to outsorce the music management software, instead of handling it themselves and focus on hardware.

Now if they could bring down some of their hardware prices.

Another article:

Sony's flashmedia DAP (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/gear/entertainment/2005-03-08-sony-flash-players_x.htm)

I am so excited Sony is entering the flash market! Combine their presence with Apples's and flash prices should eventually tumble and hopefully +2gb flash players will become the norm, although they may never match the speed of a HD.

The great thing about the Sony flash drives is the obnoxiously long battery life with a display. Now I can go to SIN and back without even having to worry about recharging or running out of battery juice. Long battery life, embedded display and WMA support should force Apple to step up their game and present a flash player with a decent feature set aside from a "shuffle". maybe Apple will recant their nonsense aboiut no one wants a display on a flash drive. I think if you have a 512mb-1gb player you are going to eventually want a display to sort through the songs at some point.

I have had so many bad experiences with HD players(they all failed on me) that I won't even think of using another one unless it is a laptop and all of my music is backed up on tape.

Solid state players rule!